Chuck

The house held no interest to me after Adam had gone to bed. I was stuck in a constant battle between wanting to sing, dance, and scream my head off at the same time…and maybe smash a few windows. It was all so much that it brought on a headache of its own which is probably my biggest epic fail to date. I decided that I should follow the leader and take a nap as well, but as I headed towards the stairs, I was interrupted.

"Chuck, could you run to the kitchen and see if you can't rustle up some oil from under the sink?" Bobby asked as he was headed out the back door towards the junkyard.

"Yeah, sure thing," I said too quickly, suddenly eager to get to the kitchen. I turned and started to walk away.

"And Chuck," he called after me. I skidded to a quick stop, really wishing he would just let me go already. But he was giving me one of those knowing looks as though he could read my mind. "Hands off the liquor cabinet."

He chuckled to himself, ignorant to the fact that he had just crushed my hope for ending the day, happily drowning in alcohol, my sweet companion. I scowled as he disappeared and I turned to walk towards the kitchen. Once there, I couldn't help eying that liquor cabinet, like a magnet to my eyes. It was so seductive with its polished wooden doors hanging slightly lopsided and that one missing knob…screw it.

I ran over to the cabinet, yanking the doors open and sighing when I saw that glowing amber bottle, singing to me like the sweetest siren. It was one of only three bottles on the shelf and the one below it was completely empty. It's a good thing we would be heading out for another supply run soon. I could stock up on a secret stash then. For now, I was satisfied to grab that bottle of JD and take one long chug. My headache instantly softened up and everything felt nice again.

Suddenly, I heard Bobby's voice coming from just beyond the kitchen door, drawing nearer. I was cornered. With a careless shrug, I hoisted myself onto the empty shelf of the cabinet and pulled the door closed behind me. It was a tight fit, but good enough since I had my bottle curled tightly against my chest. Through the empty space where the doorknob was missing, I had a view of the entire room.

"Chuck?" Bobby called out, walking into the room. After being satisfied that he couldn't find me, he turned and slid shut the door that cut off the kitchen from the rest of the house. Then he quickly skipped over to the liquor cabinet where I was hidden, wide eyed and terrified. But thank Jack Daniels for Crowley and his impeccable timing.

"Bobby," he said in that annoyingly casual tone of his. "There you are. We need to talk."

"What?" Bobby said, startled. "Um, nothin', I was just…screw you, Crowley." He made as if to dramatically storm out of the kitchen, but the demon quickly stood in between him and the door.

"I said," he leaned against the frame with his arm raised to the height of his neck, "we need to talk." Bobby stepped back with his arms folded stubbornly, reluctantly ready to listen. "We've all been thinking it. I, the only demon around. You, a hunter. The wannabe hunter, the broken angel, a drunk prophet, and a closet case Winchester. And once all those darling little recruits find out—"

"Damn it, Crowley, you already know we ain't gonna gut you in your sleep so long as you've got my soul in your pocket," Bobby said exasperatedly. "You're perfectly safe, ya idjit."

"Safe?" Crowley frowned, slightly confused. He lowered his arms so they were stuffed in his pockets like they usually were. "I was trying to make you realize that we're hardly going to get a moment's peace around here and I know how touchy you are about…having an audience."

I felt my face turn red; my eyes widened, and I had to stop myself from gagging. Dean would call me a freaking pervert for automatically getting…that out of the sentence. But Bobby's face was cherry-Mustang red and he was visibly shaking from what I assumed was rage. Surely Crowley didn't mean…?

"Listen to me, you son of a bitch," Bobby ground out threateningly. "You've got to stop stalking me with your insane theories that I've replaced Brody as your 'lover against Lucifer.' I sold my soul to you, we closed a deal. One kiss. That's it, it's over. Now, you must have some sort of co-dependency issues or something because this is just getting sad."

"Don't," Crowley barked, then in lower tones, "get superior on me. I used to be a demon with respect, see. Not your everyday whore of an exorcism. You think I would waste my time chasing a maggot of a human like yourself without a reason?"

I shivered at the unnatural darkness in his voice. As though to emphasize my thoughts, his eyes suddenly went demon black, glaring deliberately at Bobby who was backing up until he reached the kitchen sink, though he leaned away still as Crowley continued to advance.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bobby said, obviously trying to sound tough and manly, though his voice was barely a whisper. I cursed my mind for automatically placing him in a loose and frilly dress and Crowley in a cowboy's outfit as though playing out a cheesy Nora Roberts scene. They just couldn't rock that look.

"Oh, I think you know," Crowley purred. He reached up and traced Bobby's cheek with the back of his hand and my confusion deepened. Bobby's eyes snapped shut, but he remained still. "You're drawn to me, Bobby…you've been thinking about me ever since that one kiss. You've been craving it…"

Bobby looked as though he had something to say, but never got a chance to as Crowley quickly silenced him with his lips. Eyes bulging out of my skull, I slapped a hand to my mouth to smother my gasp. It was too much…Bobby…Crowley…my mind just wanted to shut down at that. I watched in disbelief as Crowley started the groping and Bobby looked like he was going to pass out, grasping the counter for support. What would drive the universe to think that it could put a demon and a hunter together and even attempt to make it work?

Then Bobby broke away from Crowley and put a good distance between them, his face terrified and guilty. To make matters worse, his lips were swollen red, giving him a slightly disheveled look. He quickly turned tail and left the kitchen.

"You enjoy the fucking show?" Crowley growled menacingly. He turned and looked directly at the liquor cabinet, his eyes still deep black. In an instant, the doors had flown open and an invisible force pushed me onto the unfriendly floor. "Prophet, you seem to have the worst timed cravings for a drink out of every piss poor drunk in this sad little world. You know that?"

"Yep…starting to get it," I wheezed, stumbling to my feet. "I didn't see anything…I mean, in case you're wondering—"

"Don't make yourself look more a fool than you already have." Crowley's anger seemed to have gone and was replaced by a cold and bitter aura that seemed to radiate outward that he was not to be messed with. "Look, if it were up to me, I'd tell you that you could run that mouth off to whoever you damn well please. But he wouldn't like that, now would he? He is the only one keeping me alive. Now you keep that trap shut or by the fires of hell and my pretty, pretty hell puppy, you won't be telling any more bedtime stories. Got it?"

I gulped weakly and nodded quickly. Crowley's eyes went back to normal just in time to roll exasperatedly. Then the demon disappeared, leaving me all alone in the kitchen, still clutching my precious bottle to my chest.

I didn't sleep well that night. All my dreams were plagued with memories of visions and dirty fantasies that became nightmares when Bobby showed up in that frilly dress that my mind couldn't seem to forget. When that happened, I forced myself to wake up and face my dark, chilly room. I tossed and turned in my bed, trying desperately to go back to sleep, but it was too cold and the house creaked like it was haunted and it all made me feel so lonely…

I got out of bed, grumbling to myself with incoherent words that didn't exactly fit the English language. I left my room and headed down the hall and towards the bathroom. I stopped when I was about to pass Adam's room. Those haunted house noises I'd been hearing seemed to originate from beyond that crack under the door which wasn't securely closed. Everything in my gut said to turn away—it was wrong to spy and I would probably see something I didn't want to know anyway. But my head was too damn curious to listen and told my hand to gently press against the wooden door, ever so slowly pushing it open so that more and more moonlight spilled into the dark hallway. I felt everything go numb at what I saw, and not in the peaceful way it did when I received visions.

Adam…and Castiel. If my stomach had been queasy from the afternoon matinee in the kitchen, it wanted to die at the sight of this. I probably would have if I remembered how. But seeing the two of them locked together in a passionate, almost angry embrace, doing those intimate things, making those suggestive noises…it was almost too much to bear. For the life of me, I couldn't force my feet to move, or anything else in my body. All I could do was pray that it was just a bad dream or another vision that I could hopefully prevent from coming true.

Who are you kidding? Said the voice in the back of my head. I willed it to shut up and let me focus on leaving, but it just kept screaming and screaming and the only part of my body that worked allowed tears to flow past my eyes and my heart to feel petty.

"Things are not always what they seem," said a dreamlike voice in musical tones.

My head finally snapped away from the scene before me and turned to face the newcomer in the hallway beside me. It was a girl, a few inches shorter than me, with a mess of curly black hair and bright blue eyes that glowed inhumanly. Her white gown flowed down to her knees, rippling though there was no wind and she wasn't moving. But that wasn't the worst of it.

"You…" I whispered, horrified.

"Me," she said sweetly, tilting her head to the side. She reached out and placed a gentle hand against my cheek. Her skin was deadly cold.

"What are you doing here?" I said, afraid that the two apparent lovers would hear me.

"You called me," she sighed innocently. "Oh, poor Chucky, you really have no clue, do you?" She giggled lightly in a way I'd only heard in scary movies from the evil children that inevitably go on murder sprees. "I'll tell you everything, but you've got to leave from here so we can talk."

I nodded, discovering that my feet could move again. I stumbled backwards, but ice cold hands were there to steady me. She led me back to my own doorway then stopped.

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing here?" I demanded angrily.

"Sweetie, it's the apocalypse," she giggled. "I come when you need me and that's now more than ever."

"Maybe, but why now," I said, the frustration started to build like adrenaline in my veins. "Couldn't you have at least waited until tomorrow or something? Sometime when I can get my answers…"

"What, them?" she asked, motioning towards Adam's bedroom. "Have you totally forgotten all I taught you when your visions started? Nothing in this sad little planet is what it appears, Chucky! Forget what you saw because it is entirely irrelevant. Right now, I need you to concentrate on something much more important."

"The apocalypse?" I guessed, waving my arms around. "Yeah, okay, I get it. The world's ending. But apparently, I'm going to reach paradise, so you can go back to haunting the local mystery spot. Just leave me alone!"

Her face narrowed; an angry, unnatural shadow was cast around her face and I wished I could go hide under my covers. I recognized that look.

"Do you think I would come to you, bow to your every need, if I had a choice, prophet?" she growled, sending shivers down my spine. "You show me your respect or I will allow you to die, alone on that spit of a rock, screaming for your precious Winchester to come save you, understand? And don't even try to save yourself without me. Your own death isn't one you can have a vision of and put a band aid on. You know those visions you get while you sleep, how painful they are? Those will seem like pins and needles compared to this."

"Okay, fine, just—" just please stop talking. I already felt terrible enough. "What do you need to tell me?"

She grinned victoriously and swayed side to side as though she were the most innocent child on the planet. "Thank you, darling dearest! Now, somebody wants to kill you; give you that naughty little death."

"What, the Croats?" I asked with a frown. "I guess being torn to shreds would be painful…"

"Not them, silly goose!" she laughed, rapping her knuckles on my skull. "Somebody here! There's somebody here who wants to kill you specifically. And I'll tell ya, this isn't going to be pretty."

"Okay, so how do I stop it?"

"Chucky…" she frowned, confused. "You can't. No matter what you do, that body's expiration date is coming up quickly. What you can do is call me in time to watch the show."

"Watch the…" I gaped at her. "But you said I could save myself with your help!"

"Let's face it, love," she sighed, tilting her head. "There's no way you'll be able to concentrate on saving yourself when you'll be too busy mourning your Winchester. You're going to die, I'm going to be free, we all go to the ultimate home happy. Relax, I won't let you go alone. I'll be with you, laughing all along."

"I'd rather you not," I said coldly, trying to glare as best I could. She smiled warmly and stepped right up to me and on her tiptoes so our faces were level.

"So tell me, Chuckles," she whispered. "What does it feel like to go insane?"

I was about to ask her what she was talking about, but then she was blown away by a random gust of wind that blew through the house. I stared at the empty space in front of me, feeling that familiar sense of panic. I backed up against my closed door and slumped to the ground, feeling a terrible weight in my chest pull me down. I couldn't stop the steady flow of tears that fell from my eyes. Everything seemed to be weighing in at once and it was too much for my mind to comprehend all at once.

As if to make matters worse, Adam's bedroom door opened, spilling moonlight out into the hallway. Adam and Cas stumbled out, still clinging to each other, smiling madly. He kissed the angel a few more times before retreating back into the room alone and Castiel pranced back towards his own room, dancing and twirling as he went.

"Nothing is what it appears to be…nothing," I whispered to myself.

I'm gonna be sick.

"You look a little sick, buddy," Adam said, patting my shoulder. I widened my eyes as I woke up, having dozed off at the coffee pot. I looked around the busy kitchen, wondering just how I'd gotten there, then I remembered. I had fallen asleep in the hallway and barely managed to shuffle into the kitchen ten minutes ago. I really needed caffeine.

"Chuck, we need you awake," Bobby called out above the noise of everybody making a breakfast feast. "There's a lot of work to be done today and we need everybody's help. Another supply run, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, waving my hand to show him. "All's good…all's fine…coffee."

All the breakfast food was set at the dining room table which was over crowded with chairs for the refugees. Almost everyone had already gone to sit down, myself included, coffee in hand. I looked all around at the somewhat smiling faces of the new residents, and everyone who had been with us before, wondering who might be trying to kill me.

Crowley was too lazy to kill me, not to mention, he would surely be separated from his precious Bobby who he couldn't stop staring at as I watched him. Bobby was just Bobby no matter who he decided to make out with on kitchen sinks and would never end an innocent human life. Becky might kill me if I was a sacrifice for some ritual to get Sam back, but I doubted she had the knowledge or the stomach for that kind of thing. Adam was…he was wincing as he gingerly sat down at the table and my stomach lurched.

"You alright there?" Castiel asked with a knowing look on his face. Adam shot him a horrified glare before looking down at his plate of food.

No, Adam wouldn't kill me. Neither would Cas. They're too busy breaking my already fragile little heart. So that left the newcomers. I eyes each of them suspiciously, but I was no better at reading human expressions than Becky. From my Sam and Dean visions I'd learned how to read Winchester expressions, but everybody else was a mystery to me.

I wondered how they could all go about eating their food while there were real live Soap dramas going on right under their noses. There was a secret and frustrating love, a scandalous secret relationship, a crazy prophet who's in on it all, and a Becky who looked like she knew there was something up and that I knew what it was. All we were missing was Dr. Sexy M.D. and a dying, rich relative.

"S'cuse me," I mumbled before getting up to leave the table. I had to back up quite a ways in order to not disturb the people beside me, but I managed and quickly began to walk up to my room.

"Chuck, wait!" I tried to tell myself to ignore it and keep going, but how could I possibly deny an Adam Winchester command? So I stopped and turned around to face the ache in my chest as he caught up to me. "We still need to talk."

"No, actually, we don't," I said, sounding just as weak as I felt. "I understand." I was actually more confused than ever, but I really wanted to get to my room so he wouldn't see me cry.

"What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously. Ouch.

"Don't—" God, please not now! My head reeled with a painful vision wave. "Just don't, Adam."

I began to stumble away, but Adam reached out for my hand. That simple touch sent all the pain away just long enough for me to be able to escape into my room and slam the door behind me. My head pounded against my skull as I fell to the floor and was dragged into that peaceful place where all that mattered was the vision. Except this was not peaceful.

We were in one of the log cabins that Crowley had placed nearer to the house; I could clearly see it through the window. One of the cots had been dragged from where it normally stood against one wall into the center of the room. Gathered around it was Bobby, Adam, and my own body which seemed eerie since I watched from the far corner. But I could feel Adam's fear and panic and knew that he wasn't in hunter mode. This was worse than the kind of fear he'd felt before being replaced by Dean. When I looked down, I saw why.

Lynn was on the cot, screaming bloody murder and clutching her round belly. It must have been the seventeen days later she warned us about. But I was surprised to see that Sami was not present as she had promised to be.

"Lynn, you need to breathe," Adam shouted. I felt it myself as he struggled to remember his medical training.

"Something's wrong," Bobby called out as he loomed over Lynn, probably checking her vitals. I wouldn't know. Adam looked over to check whatever Bobby was seeing and I felt a new fear in his heart.

"Lynn, I know it hurts, but you need to calm down," Adam said slowly. Then I heard the single thought flit through his mind. The babies are dying.

Then time seemed to slow down. All the commotion became mere background noise as my body looked directly towards the corner from where I watched. I'd seen myself in visions before, but I'd never gotten the timing right to actually send myself a message.

"I didn't do it," he whispered. His face was set in that expression I recognized so much. Fear mixed with a world of guilt. "I didn't hurt them. Lynn can't be our Eve. Trust me, it will be okay." But I saw the lie on his face plain as day as he looked back down at the poor woman who let out the worst scream yet.

Then I was torn out of the vision and back into my own head which ached so terribly, I couldn't remember how to cry out for help. As though in an answer to my unspoken prayer, gentle hands lifted me off the ground and placed me on my soft bed. Something warm pressed against my cheek and all the pain suddenly disappeared, leaving me drowsy and happy-feeling. I looked up at Adam who wore the same expression I had seen on my face only moments before. I was much too sleepy to process whatever emotions I might have been feeling, so I just went along with what my body told me to do.

"Don't leave me," I said quietly, latching onto his hand.

The words "Not going anywhere" echoed in my mind as I drifted off to sleep. My dreams were plagued by the memories of all I'd seen lately. All the fears I'd felt swirled into a terrible nightmare that I had to force myself out of. I blearily opened my eyes and saw afternoon sunlight streaming into my room. I look around and saw Adam sitting in a chair at my bedside, our hands still interlocked.

"You stayed," I pointed out stupidly.

"Yeah," he said with a tired smile, sitting up straight. "Like I said…we need to talk."


AN/ Woot! How amazing is that? =) Don't worry, I'll work things out between 'em.

Um... I was an idiot and got banned from my comp for today. =O I'll try to sneak it to school. If I can't, I WILL update tomorrow... it just might be at like 11 pm at night... =(

Reviews are love!